I work in advertising and it's a glamorous business like film or TV it's your image, it's what you wear and how you look.... Maybe it has nothing to do with my height if I don't get the promotion, but as the person who's 4'2" looking at the guy who's 6'2" and blond and waspy, you think, well did he get the promotion because he's that and I'm this or on merit?

Anthony

....the teenagers and the girlfriends and the boyfriends for him to see all these dwarves doing all these everyday things, but hanging out and having fun, this is one of the best things we could do for him....

Biz (her son Tom Jr. pictured with Tom Sr.)

This is the best convention that I've been to so far - I turned twenty-one this week, I'm with a beautiful girl (rolls her eyes), and I got to give her flowers.

Tim

I was at Gap kids store the other day and I was shopping for something and there were these three little kids there and they were staring at me, and I was in a bad mood and you don't want to stare at me because I'll go off on you. So, these kids were staring and I know I shouldn't do that because they're kids. So the littlest one goes to the mommy and says mommy, mommy look! look at her! And the mom goes, oh that's OK honey, just be happy that you're not her. I was so mad! I wanted to cry.

In the outside world you have your Calvin Klein image and that's what looks good in jeans and a T-shirt. Here, I look good in jeans and a T-shirt.

Rachel

And as I cried my tears from all the hurt that happened to me from my parents, my siblings, my friends, my teachers, my school and all that...the walls started to crumble, the walls that separated me from other people, and as I expressed my anger in a way that didn't hurt me or any one else, but nonetheless let the energy move.... I found an internal strength.

Peggy's workshop

It's interesting that LPA society is not more cognizant of acceptance of difference....Of the 200-2000 dwarves who attend these conventions, it's just a microcosm of society. The only commonalty that most of us have is our short stature....

Ken

You ask them how they are and - Doc I'm doing great, I'm having the best time! and so on and meanwhile they're hobbling into the room on crutches, they can barely get up on to the table, some of them. This reflex is gone, this muscle is paralyzed, feeling is gone here and you're checking them and you ask doesn't this bother you and they say, isn't that normal?....It's a much more upbeat and positive group than any other patient group that I can think of.

Dr.Hurke

The first stress comes is during the adolescent growth spurt....as ones friends are getting taller, one is left behind and we tend to associate small height with immaturity in children.

Dr. Hurke

When I first came around and saw the Little People, I was so overwhelmed that I couldn't do anything, I couldn't walk, I couldn't talk. I was like staring at everybody, my mouth dropped like to the floor. It was amazing....

Heidi

One of the most difficult times that I had, when I first came to conventions, was figuring out my personality apart from being small. Because people in the average-size world they're like, he drinks, he dances, he laughs, he sings, he's really cool. They're surprised that you like to do those normal things so you make friends a lot easier in the average-sized world. Here you realize that you can't be dependent on that enchantment that other people have with you because now you're just you, just like you would be if you were average-sized in the average-sized world.

David

Once here you're in the environment where you're equal and you meet people and you socialize. You're in a world where you won't be again for another 51 weeks...leaving always brings tears to my eyes....

Rachel

When you're like everybody else, you work hard to be different. But when you're different, you work hard to be like everybody else. When you come to this convention, you walk around here and you feel like you're like everybody else and someone pops up and says, oh I'm gay, or I'm Baptist, or I'm Jewish, and they start to say, well you're different and I'm the same as everybody else here so I don't like people who are different. You come here to live in the fantasy that we're all the same....

Anthony

They save their money all year long to come to this convention, because if you can visualize one week in your life you are quote-unquote normal because the majority of the people around you are short..... In your community, you might be the only short person in that town and where do find a girlfriend your size, where do you get the answer to your clothing problem, or to find a medical expert to get those answers?

Bob

I'd say that the culture's definitely different here, in America, it's far more positive and in your face. People are proud to be dwarfs....I think to be different in society in Scotland is not the "in thing", where it is here. You're supposed to fit in to this slot in society. When I was 16 I had my both legs lengthened because I had this urge to be taller, But now at 29, I just know that it feels great to be different...I think that you develop special quantities that maybe the average person doesn't have.

Jeannie

For the first time you have the thrill of competing to your full potential. Here it's like everyone is playing good and noone is giving you a break whether you hit the ball, kick the ball, baseball.... I think that this is one of the best things that's ever happened to LPA. My brother is a sports nut and now I know what he went through, he's 6'2".

Amy